China will be emboldened to target more Canadians if diplomat not expelled: Chong – National | 24CA News
Conservative MP Michael Chong says he was “shaken” to be taught concerning the alleged Chinese marketing campaign concentrating on him and his household in Hong Kong, and says not taking decisive motion will solely embolden Beijing to threaten different Canadians.
That motion ought to embody expelling the Chinese diplomat in Toronto who was allegedly concerned within the plot, Chong advised Eric Sorensen in an interview that aired Sunday on The West Block.
“I think the fact they haven’t (acted) emboldens the (People’s Republic of China) to conduct even more of these activities on Canadians,” he stated. “So I think they need to send a clear message and expel this diplomat.”
The Globe and Mail reported on Monday that Beijing’s intelligence service allegedly sought to focus on Chong and his family in Hong Kong, citing a top-secret doc and an nameless nationwide safety supply. The Globe additionally reported a Chinese diplomat who stays in Canada was allegedly concerned.
Chong stated the top-secret intelligence evaluation from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) cited by the Globe and Mail report outlined the alleged threats towards him and his household.
“We know first, from the July 2021 assessment, that an officer in the Ministry of State Security in the PRC was gathering information to target my family in the PRC in order to target me on the floor of the House of Commons and put pressure on me to change my position on democracy and human rights,” Chong stated.
“We also know that other MPs were being targeted. We don’t know who they are by the Ministry of State Security in the PRC.
“The second thing we know is that a PRC diplomat accredited by the Government of Canada in Toronto, Mr. Wei Jo, was working also to gather information about my family in order to put pressure on me. So those are the two facts we know.”
Chong says he wasn’t shocked that China was concentrating on his household in Hong Kong, with whom he reduce off contact years in the past “out of an abundance of caution.” Such campaigns have been waged towards members of the Chinese diaspora in Canada and their households again in China for years, he famous.
“My case is not unique,” Chong stated.
But he stated he was “profoundly disappointed” that the Canadian authorities wasn’t doing sufficient to guard not simply him and his household, however different Canadians being focused by Beijing.
“It really, really shook me up that we’re standing naked in the wind, so to speak, exposed to these threats.”
The reported marketing campaign towards him started after Chong voted in February 2021 in favour of a movement within the House of Commons condemning China’s remedy of its Uyghur minority as a genocide. The following month, China sanctioned Chong, barring him from coming into the county and prohibiting Chinese residents from conducting business with him.
Chong advised reporters final week that whereas he was briefed by CSIS officers on the time, the knowledge was “general in nature” and didn’t embody particular threats relating to him or his household overseas.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has insisted he solely realized concerning the marketing campaign towards Chong within the media and was by no means briefed on the CSIS evaluation in 2021 or the years since. But Chong claims the doc made its solution to Trudeau’s nationwide safety advisor and the Privy Council’s Office.
Trudeau has since directed CSIS to inform the federal government about any threats made towards officers or their households, no matter whether or not they’re thought of actionable.
Chong says the transfer comes too late, accusing Trudeau of deliberately organising the mechanics of presidency in order that he wouldn’t learn of credible nationwide safety threats.
“He’s been prime minister for almost eight years,” he stated. “I think this might be excusable eight months into a new government, but there’s no excuse for this eight years in.”
Chong says he was additionally “astounded” that, throughout a House of Commons committee assembly he attended Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly listed the potential penalties the federal government is weighing in expelling the Chinese diplomat who allegedly focused him.
During a heated alternate with Chong, Joly stated “economic interests, consular interests and also diplomatic interests will be affected” by such a transfer.
“I assumed that was very regarding, {that a} overseas minister of a G7 nation would telegraph to an authoritarian state ‘the strongest leverage you have over us is economic,’” Chong said.
Those potential consequences have also been cited by the government when asked why it has yet to expel any Russian diplomats since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine started greater than a 12 months in the past.
Chong says Canada has had different alternatives to expel Chinese diplomats, together with in response to the so-called secret police stations arrange in main cities to intimidate Chinese Canadians.
“It’s clear that the government doesn’t treat these threats seriously,” he stated.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
